Pin-spiration

So, Pinterest. Have you heard of it? If so, you will completely understand this post. It will speak very clearly to you and you may even recognize some of the photos. If not, you may want to stop right here. Be forewarned, if you do not know pinterest, this post may cause you to take a look (pinterest.com). And if you take a look, there is a chance that the addiction could start. Heaven help you! You have no chance :)  Basically, Pinterest is a place to "pin" things that you find online onto a virtual "bulletin board".  It helps you keep track of things you want to remember when you are browsing online. You can also just browse items that other "pincers" have already "pinned" to get ideas.

This makes me smile because it's so true:

Here is a visual to help you understand a little better.

This is a view of all of my personal bulletin boards:

Here is a view of my "projects" board.

I joined Pinterest a few months ago and the addiction began almost immediately (so did the trips to the craft store). For me, it's the DIY (Do It Yourself) projects that are so inviting and pull me in. For other's it's the recipes or the decorating ideas or the photography inspiration. 

I do not consider myself to be super-crafty. (My sister, Jill, on the other hand- CraftyMcCrafster- is another story.) But, Pinterest somehow made me believe that I could do all these awesome projects, and the good news??? I CAN DO ALL THESE PROJECTS. Very exciting stuff :)

So, here is what I (and Eva) have been doing during Sam's nap time.

PINSPIRATION:

 (aka something I saw on Pinterest that inspired me)

 Back to School wreath

P

MY WREATH:

PINSPIRATION: Button/Bead Monogram

MY MONOGRAMS:

for my friend Bethanie's baby, Harper

For us, The Wells'

PINSPIRATION: dry erase board with scrapbook paper

MY DRY ERASE BOARD: made with Eva's own watercolor project

PINSPIRATION: Ombre Garland

MY GARLAND (made with ribbon instead of fabric)

(hung on an antique window, which I was also inspired to hang- after sitting in our basement for 5 years- by Pinterest)

                                     

And the one I did for Bethanie's nursery

PINSPIRATION: Ribbon accented draperies (NO SEW!!)

MY CURTAINS:

I did 6 panels- 2 for each large window downstairs

Well, there you go. I don't just LOOK at Pinterest, I actually do some of theprojects that I find on there :) I have also done a chalkboard for keepsake photos and next week's project is a dyed, AND painted rug!!

Pictures to follow!

If you have been inspired, here's to Happy Pinning! 

Sweet Reunion

I've spent the past 24 hours with some of the dearest souls. It is so good for my heart! My college years were really wonderful and I hate that so many of those girls are so far away from me now. We have gone through years of doing so well being in touch, and years where we were terrible. But no matter what, when we get together, it's like we haven't missed a beat (part of that, we realized this week, is the beauty of Facebook- for all it's annoyances and flaws, I'll stick with it for this reason alone)! It's amazing how that happens though, when you truly have a heart of love for someone. It's doesn't even matter that some are not so good at keeping in touch- we all let it go because we have a genuine love for one another. There is no judgment, and because of that, there is a peacefulness about our relationships with one another that is just so beautiful and refreshing despite our differences. This struck me this weekend- we are all SO very different in SO many ways. It's incredibly rich and stretches you to think beyond where you normally do.

Anyhow, we had a great weekend of togetherness. We went to an outdoor concert, stayed up REALLY late looking at pictures, reminiscing and telling stories, sharing struggles and heartache (sometimes involving tears), shopping, eating, drinking (not too much), laughing, and laughing, and laughing. AND LAUGHING.

Ah, I love these women. They have such lovely hearts! How amazing is it to be around people who love you- really love you- despite all your ugly stuff, your quirks, your snorty laughs. There is no pretense, no holding back, we let it all "hang out", so to speak because we really trust one another. We support each other in all our individual journeys- singleness, dating, kids, wanting kids, careers, marriage, AND, most importantly, working out our faith in each aspect of these stages.

We haven't scheduled a "next" time, but I'm already beyond excited to be with them again. I'm ready to see my kids- I always miss them no matter how much I need a break- but I'll be sad to leave tomorrow, too. There were a few "dear souls" missing this weekend, but I want to give a shout out to Angie James- THANK YOU for initiating this. You are the reason this reunion happened! I cannot even remotely tell you how sad I am that you missed it. Next time, we will make sure you can come :)

Here are just a couple of pics from our time.

Sweet Jen, chatting and having a glass of wine.

Wendy

Christiana- the hostess with the mostest (she was awesome)

Waiting for Vanessa and Krissy to arrive, all giddy knowing what is about to come!

Vanessa and Wendy cracking up looking at old pictures.

Friday night- somewhere around 2am 

Saturday morning- looking a little "fresher"

About to hit the towne center for some shopping

Missing Wendy and Krissy and having our last night together.

The Hiatus :)

Yeah- that's what I'll call it- "The Hiatus". My absence from the blog world has been getting worse and worse. Well, that's actually not at all accurate. I have been heavily engrossed in my favorite blogs- I never miss a post! But, here on my shabby, pitiful blog that only gets posts when I think blogger might shut me down from inactivity, I just haven't been motivated so it's been very neglected!
It's not that I don't have things to tell or things to say, but, I'll just put it out there- things have been rough here in the Wells' house. It's not that we are struggling with anything major at all- just the mundane and common challenges that parents of one and three year olds face. I'm not going to go into detail, but life has been a little daunting.
This morning I got up before the kids (who, as you may know, get up at the crack of dawn). I got dressed and ready for the day. I got my coffee and did a little yoga (my back and neck pain have gotten worse and worse under the stress of our lives and lack of sleep lately and yoga really helps). And I prayed. And prayed. And prayed. I needed wisdom BADLY, and don't you know, God delivered like He ALWAYS does when I'm at the end of my rope. I wrote down much of what He told me and when I looked back at it, a couple things stood out. As far as the kids- Consistency in disciple and expectation, Routine in much of our days, and Kindness. As far as I go- Take care of your body, Spend time with Me (God).
So, I started by writing down what I thought our day should look like. I scratched out a few notes and when the kids woke up, I started putting it into practice. I told Eva all about it- step by step- and explained each little piece. She was IN. So IN.
Here's what I came up with in the 3 minutes before the kids came downstairs this morning. You can see in there what some of our issues have been in the past few months, some which have started to wear on me.

Wake

Yoga/Stretch/Coffee

Kids wake

ONE 25 minute show

breakfast- 2 OPTIONS (Eva wash hands/face independently)

One cleaning chore (vacuum, dishwasher, one bathroom)

Mommy/Eva conference- talk about things we want to do, places we may want to go, etc.

Kids dress, brush teeth, comb hair, etc.

FREE TIME- play (NO TV), games, errands, park, Grammie’s, etc (one HEALTHY snack)

Lunch- 2 OPTIONS (Eva wash hands/face independently)

Quiet play (drawing, dollhouse, read books, cutting/gluing, flash cards, one 25 minute show a few times per week)

Sam’s nap

Mommy & Eva time including memory verse, prayer time, and one of Eva's chosen activities (30 minutes)

Eva rest time- 1 hour

Mommy devotional time (30-45 minutes)

Mommy organizational time (return e-mails, check bills, make phone calls)

Prep dinner

FREE TIME (one HEALTHY snack)

Dinner

Pick up daily messes, straighten rooms

Treat (only if ALL meals are eaten reasonably throughout the day)

Bath

25 minute show

Bed time routine and lights out

And our day went great. Even though Sam took a sucky nap and the evening was pretty crazy, we had a good day. The kids responded to my calmness and firmness and kindness. Hallelujah!!
This is not to say I won't be spontaneous, or give in to one of Eva's crazy ideas involving paint and glitter, or let the kids watch a movie every once in awhile, but we need this because I am a better mom when all of us know what to expect in our day.


But just in case you thought we weren't having any fun here recently, here are a few pics of the past couple weeks...

Our dear friend, Penny, came over and we did an impromptu princess tea party :)

Apparently, it was exhausting!

Fun with friends at Highland Orchards

While my dear friend, Angie, was in China picking up her daughter, we had the pleasure of having her boys for a few hours. This picture was taken right after I told them we were going to Dunkin Donuts for a treat :) 

Then, we went swimming and Foster and Eva CRACKED EACH OTHER UP!!! 

One day at Grammie's, we spotted a chipmunk. It went into the woodpile and Judah thought he should try to get it out. Eva watched him poke around with a huge pole and was VERY concerned for the little guy!

We took advantage of the rain and did some splashing one day. And several more times the days after :) Eva wasn't happy when I said "no" to it because there was thunder and lightening. She doesn't quite get the danger in that yet.

We love to go to the playground at Pickering Valley Elementary.

And they both ALWAYS end up looking for acorns nearby.

We have found a new love- shaving cream bath paint. We have done it 4 days in a row (3 of those days in the middle of the day). We ran out of shaving cream- OH NO!!!!!

 They like to paint each other, too!